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All Elin Hilderbrand Books in Order (Including Her 2026 Release)
The ‘Queen of the Beach Read’ has a backlist of excellent Nantucket-set summer books as well as the popular Winter Series to keep you busy year-round. And now her latest series, co-authored with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, will transport you to autumn in New England. We’ve compiled a full list of Elin Hilderbrand’s novels in order of publication for you below.
- Newest Novel
- All Elin Hilderbrand Books in Order
- Novellas & Short Stories
- Printable Elin Hilderbrand Book List
- Do You Have to Read Elin Hilderbrand Books in Order?
- Winter Series Overview
- Paradise Series Overview
- Nantucket Series Overview
- The Academy Series Co-Authored by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
- Recurring Characters in Elin Hilderbrand Books
- Can You Visit the Nantucket Businesses Mentioned In Her Books?
- Page-to-Screen Adaptations
- Did Elin Hilderbrand Retire?
- Other Author & Book Recommendations
- Elin Hilderbrand Biography
Newest Novel
Before we get to the full list of books in order, we wanted to briefly highlight Elin Hilderbrand’s latest novel.
Released in September of 2026, The Thoroughbreds is the second book and final book in The Academy series. This novel takes readers back for another school year at Tiffin Academy, where the excitement and pressure of senior year coexist with dark secrets that lurk beneath the surface. You can read more about this series below.
All Elin Hilderbrand Books in Order
Since the publication of her first book in 2000, Elin has penned more than 30 popular novels. She’s a regular on the New York Times bestseller list, having sold more than 20 million books worldwide.
Many of her books are stand-alone novels that can be read in any order, but we’ve specifically noted those that are part of a series, and you can read more about each series below. We’ve also included the short stories that complement her full-length novels.
Full-Length Novels
The Beach Club
Published 2000
In her debut novel, we spend one Nantucket summer at a beachfront hotel through the eyes of the staff who run it. As romances and rivalries unfold, a hurricane threatens to wash away everything the club stands for.
Nantucket Nights
Published 2002
Three lifelong friends return to Nantucket for their annual Labor Day tradition, a reunion built on champagne, secrets, and a midnight swim. When one of them vanishes into the ocean during that swim, the survivors are forced to face the betrayals they’ve spent twenty years keeping quiet.
Summer People
Published 2003
After losing her husband in a plane crash, Beth Newton honors his dying wish by inviting a stranger’s son to join her family’s traditional Nantucket summer. His arrival stirs up first love, jealousy, and a secret from Beth’s own past that threatens to surface before Labor Day.
The Blue Bistro
Published 2005
Adrienne Dealey arrives on Nantucket broke and untrained, yet lands a job at the island’s most coveted restaurant for what everyone insists will be its final season. As she falls for the owner and untangles his bond with the restaurant’s chef, she has to decide whether staying is worth the risk.
The Love Season
Published 2006
Over one August Saturday on Nantucket, Renata Knox visits her reclusive godmother Marguerite, hoping to finally understand her mother’s death fourteen years earlier. What begins as a quiet reunion unravels family secrets neither woman expected to face.
Barefoot
Published 2007
Two sisters and a lifelong friend arrive on Nantucket for the summer, each carrying a private crisis: a serious diagnosis, a scandal back home, and a pregnancy shadowed by betrayal. A local man becomes tangled in all three of their lives as the women lean on each other to get through it.
A Summer Affair
Nantucket Series #1
Published 2008
While co-chairing Nantucket’s Children’s Summer Gala, glassblower and mother of four Claire Danner Crispin begins a secret affair with the charity’s married director. As the gala draws closer, her double life puts both her marriage and her closest friendship at risk.
The Castaways
Nantucket Series #2
Published 2009
When a married couple drowns in a sailing accident, their three closest friend-couples gather on Nantucket to grieve together. Slowly, the true story behind the accident emerges, testing how much honesty this tight social circle can actually survive.
The Island
Published 2010
Newly divorced Birdie Cousins gathers her daughters and sister for a month on remote, off-grid Tuckernuck Island after her daughter calls off her wedding following a sudden tragedy. Without electricity or distraction, the women have nowhere to hide from each other’s secrets.
Silver Girl
Published 2011
After her husband’s massive financial fraud leaves her homeless and disgraced, Meredith Delinn takes refuge on Nantucket with her childhood best friend. There she runs into the man she once loved, and has to reckon with both her husband’s crimes and the life she might have chosen instead.
Summerland
Published 2012
A late-night car crash kills Nantucket teenager Penny Alistair and badly injures her twin brother, leaving three families to untangle what really happened. As grief settles over the island, long-hidden affairs and rumors surface among the people who loved Penny most.
Companion Short Story: Barbie’s Wedding (available in the Endless Summer collection)
Beautiful Day
Published 2013
Two Nantucket families gather for a wedding guided by detailed instructions the bride’s late mother left behind in a notebook. But beneath the carefully planned celebration, old infidelities and family tensions threaten to unravel before the vows are said.
Short Story Sequel: The Surfing Lesson
The Matchmaker
Published 2014
Dabney Kimball Beech has matched 42 happy couples on Nantucket, yet her own love life stalls the moment Clendenin Hughes, the man she loved decades earlier, returns to the island after 27 years away. His return forces Dabney to face the choices and secrets she’s spent a lifetime avoiding.
Short Story Prequel: The Tailgate
Winter Street
Winter Series #1
Published 2014
When his wife leaves him on Christmas Eve, Nantucket innkeeper Kelley Quinn is left to hold his family together through the holiday alone. Over three chaotic days, his four grown children’s own crises collide, capped by devastating news about his youngest son serving overseas.
Winter Stroll
Winter Series #2
Published 2015
As the Winter Street Inn gears up for Nantucket’s Christmas Stroll and a baby’s baptism, the Quinn family’s holiday plans get complicated by an unexpected visitor. Kelley’s estranged wife returns to the island right as new and old romances start pulling everyone in different directions.
The Rumor
Published 2015
In a Nantucket community where gossip travels fast, novelist Madeline King and her best friend Grace find their lives quietly unraveling under the weight of rumor and half-truths. As whispers of an affair spread, Grace’s husband’s risky business dealings threaten to bring down more than reputations.
Here’s to Us
Published 2016
When celebrity chef Deacon Thorpe dies, his three wives, a high school sweetheart, a Hollywood actress, and a Southern belle, are summoned to the same Nantucket cottage to fulfill his final wishes. Trapped together, the women must reconcile their very different versions of the man they all loved.
Winter Storms
Winter Series #3
Published 2016
As the Quinn family prepares for a wedding at the Winter Street Inn, a historic blizzard threatens to strand loved ones far from Nantucket. Between one daughter’s addiction, another choosing between two men, and Kelley’s own health scare, the storm outside is only part of the crisis.
The Identicals
Published 2017
Estranged for fourteen years after a family tragedy, identical twins Harper and Tabitha Frost are pulled back together when their father dies, and Harper’s affair becomes public. Trading places between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, the sisters slowly find their way back to each other.
Short Story Prequel: The Country Club (available in the Endless Summer collection)
Winter Solstice
Winter Series #4
Published 2017
Facing a terminal diagnosis, Nantucket patriarch Kelley Quinn gathers his family for one last holiday season together. As the inn goes up for sale, his children’s own romances and struggles play out around him before the family says goodbye on the solstice.
Winter in Paradise
Paradise Series #1
Published 2018
After her husband dies in a helicopter crash off St. John, magazine editor Irene Steele travels to the Caribbean with her sons to make sense of his death. Instead, she finds a secret second family and mounting evidence that the crash was no accident.
The Perfect Couple
Nantucket Series #3
Published 2018
Hours before a lavish Nantucket wedding, a body turns up in the harbor, and the town’s police chief has to figure out who’s responsible before the vows are exchanged. As the investigation unfolds, both families discover just how little they actually knew about each other.
Alternate Ending: Frank Sinatra Drive (available in the Endless Summer collection)
What Happens in Paradise
Paradise Series #2
Published 2019
A year after her husband’s death, Irene Steele returns to St. John with her sons to keep digging into the secret life he led there, and the woman who shared it. What they uncover forces each of them to reckon with their own futures as much as his past.
Summer of ’69
Published 2019
Against the backdrop of the moon landing, Vietnam, and a turbulent summer, the Levin family’s usual Nantucket traditions start to crack. While one son serves overseas, his mother and three siblings each face a reckoning of their own before the season is over.
Short Story Sequels:
Summer of ’79 & Summer of ’89 (available in the Endless Summer collection)
Troubles in Paradise
Paradise Series #3
Published 2020
With the FBI seizing everything her late husband left behind, Irene Steele has to start over while still chasing the truth about his death on St. John. As a mysterious figure begins shadowing the family and a hurricane bears down on the island, old questions finally get answered.
28 Summers
Published 2020
For 28 years, Mallory Blessing and Jake meet on Nantucket every Labor Day weekend, even after he marries someone else and builds a life without her. As his wife’s political career rises and the affair can no longer stay secret, Mallory receives news that changes everything.
Short Story Sequel: The Sixth Wedding
Golden Girl
Published 2021
After novelist Vivi Howe is killed in a Nantucket hit-and-run, she watches over her grieving children from the Beyond, able to help only in small, limited ways. As an investigation points to the wrong suspect, secrets from Vivi’s own past threaten to come out before the truth does.
Bonus Chapter: The Workshop (available in the Endless Summer collection)
The Hotel Nantucket
Published 2022
Newly appointed manager Lizbet Keaton takes on the job of reviving a once-grand, struggling Nantucket hotel under its new billionaire owner. Between staff secrets, guest drama, and the hotel’s own dark history, Lizbet has more to contend with than she bargained for.
The Five-Star Weekend
Published 2023
Recently widowed food blogger Hollis Shaw invites four women from very different chapters of her life to a Nantucket reunion weekend, all while her daughter films it for a documentary. As old friendships mix with new tension, each woman’s hidden burden slowly comes to light.
Swan Song
Nantucket Series #4
Published 2024
As Nantucket’s summer winds down, a mansion fire breaks out during a lavish yacht party thrown by the island’s newest and wealthiest residents. The retiring police chief has one last case to solve: who started the fire, and what really happened to the woman who disappeared in it.
The Academy
Academy Series #1
Published 2025
At an elite Massachusetts boarding school, four students and one young teacher find their lives upended by grief, secrets, and an anonymous gossip app that seems to know everything. When a forbidden relationship comes to light, it threatens to unravel the entire school.
The Thoroughbreds
Academy Series #2
Published 2026
As senior year begins at Tiffin Academy, returning couple Charley and East face new cracks in their relationship while a lingering mystery from a classmate’s death resurfaces. Between college pressure and a growing rift among friends, the school’s tightly held order starts to slip.
Novellas & Short Stories
The majority of Elin Hilderbrand’s short stories and novellas are connected to one of her full-length novels, ranging from prequels and sequels to bonus chapters and alternate endings. Each of these related stories are noted with their companion novels above, and below is her one stand-alone short story.
Natural Selection
Published 2024
In this stand-alone novella, Sophia’s boyfriend cancels their couples’ cruise to the Galápagos Islands at the last minute, and she decides to go alone anyway. Over eight days surrounded by islands built on adaptation and change, she starts to realize the life she’s been settling for isn’t the one she actually wants.
Printable Elin Hilderbrand Book List
Looking for a printable list of all of Elin Hilderbrand’s books? Our Buy Me a Coffee members have access to a cute two-page printable tracker featuring the covers of all her full-length novels! Join our membership site today for instant access to your copy, along with some other fun perks!
Do You Have to Read Elin Hilderbrand Books in Order?
For the most part, no. The majority of Elin Hilderbrand novels are stand-alone books and can be read in any order. However, she has written four series that are best enjoyed in order. We’ve noted these in the book list above, and also provide a brief overview of each series below.
Winter Series Overview
The four books in the Christmas-themed Winter Series follow a continuous storyline. They should be read in order, and you need to read all four to get to the full conclusion of the plot. However, Elin does a good job of bringing you up to speed if you prefer to spread your reading over multiple holiday seasons.
The first book in the Winter Street series introduces readers to the Quinn family. The father, Kelley Quinn, is the owner of Nantucket’s Winter Street Inn. As Christmas approaches, he looks forward to gathering with his four grown children for quality time at the inn. Each of the subsequent books in the Winter Street series brings the family back together for another Christmas on Nantucket.
Paradise Series Overview
While the majority of her books are set on Nantucket, the books in the Paradise series whisk you away to the US Virgin Islands. These three books must be read in order:
The first book begins when a woman in Iowa learns that her husband died in a plane crash in the Caribbean. She and her adult sons travel to St. John and begin to unravel the secrets of the family patriarch. The first two books in the Paradise trilogy end with major cliffhangers! You’ll want to clear your calendar so that you can read all three in a row!
The Paradise Series opens on New Year’s Eve, but these books are not holiday-themed.
Nantucket Series Overview
Unlike the other two book series listed above, the publication dates of the books in the Nantucket Series are much more spread out. She wrote the first and second books in 2008 and 2009 respectively. But the third book didn’t come along for nearly a decade, and the final installment wasn’t published until 2024.
Each book tells a different couple’s point of view, and each has a unique plot. While it’s enjoyable to read them in order, the storylines of these four books are not chronologically continuous. You can read them as stand-alones if you prefer.
- A Summer Affair
- The Castaways
- The Perfect Couple (alternate ending available in the Endless Summer short story collection)
- Swan Song
The Academy Series Co-Authored by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
The mother-daughter writing duo of Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham co-authored a two-book series, with Elin penning the adult perspectives (parents and teachers) and Shelby writing key scenes from the student perspectives. The books follow students at a boarding school across two school years, and should be read in order.
Recurring Characters in Elin Hilderbrand Books
On an island, everyone seems to know everyone and be interconnected in different ways. If you pay close attention to side characters, you may see them mentioned in otherwise unrelated books. One of the best examples is Nantucket police chief Ed Kapenash. He and his wife, Andrea, are part of the close-knit group of friends at the center of The Castaways, and he reappears in later Nantucket novels.
Readers will also recognize familiar Nantucket restaurants, businesses, neighborhoods, and other local landmarks from book to book. These small connections aren’t usually important enough to require reading the novels in order, but they’re a fun bonus for longtime Hilderbrand readers and help make her fictional version of Nantucket feel like a real, close-knit community.
Can You Visit the Nantucket Businesses Mentioned In Her Books?
Once you dig into Elin’s backlist, half the fun is recognizing the recurring shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels that feel almost like characters themselves in the novels. Many of these are real locations on the island, and now you can visit them for yourself thanks to Elin’s 2025 Nantucket Travel Guide.
The Blue Book
A Must-See, Can’t-Miss, Won’t-Forget Guide to Nantucket
Published 2025
This travel guide offers readers practical, fun, insider tips: from drive-on beaches to late-night dance bars; from romantic getaways to family outings; and of course, where to find the best oysters.
Page-to-Screen Adaptations
The Five-Star Weekend – Streaming Series
Elin’s 2023 novel The Five-Star Weekend was adapted into an eight-episode Peacock series that premiered in July 2026. Starring Jennifer Garner, the series, like the novel, brings together women from different stages of the main character’s life for a weekend on Nantucket, where long-held secrets and complicated relationships begin to surface. Peacock announced in August of 2026 that it had renewed the series for season 2.
The Perfect Couple – Streaming Series
Additionally, Elin’s 2018 novel, The Perfect Couple, was adapted into a six-episode limited TV series on Netflix starring Nicole Kidman as Greer Garrison Winbury (the groom’s mother) and Dakota Fanning as Abby Winbury (the sister-in-law). In a July 2026 interview, Hilderbrand indicated that a proposed second season was being considered, but had not yet been greenlit.
Hotel Nantucket & Paradise Series – In Development
In the summer of 2026, Hilderbrand revealed that two more projects are in the works: The Hotel Nantucket is in development with Amazon, and the Paradise Series is in development with Apple. We’ll keep you apprised of any updates.
Did Elin Hilderbrand Retire?
In a June 2021 interview with the Associated Press, Elin Hilderbrand announced that she planned to step away from her long-running tradition of publishing Nantucket beach reads. She explained that, after decades of writing a new summer novel each year, she was ready to make room for other priorities and creative projects. As Elin once put it, one of the challenges of her career was finding a way to “write the same thing every year, completely differently.”
Swan Song, published in 2024, marked the end of the Nantucket beach read chapter of her career. Elin then partnered with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, to co-author The Academy series, which concluded in 2026.
While longtime readers may miss having a new Hilderbrand beach read to anticipate each summer, her extensive backlist remains full of island escapes to revisit.
Other Author & Book Recommendations
- Authors Like Elin Hilderbrand
- Best Beach Reads of All Time (as voted on by our readers)
- See All of Our Summer Reading Recommendations in One Place
Elin Hilderbrand Biography
Elin Hilderbrand grew up with a twin brother and spent childhood summers on Cape Cod until her father died in a plane crash when she was sixteen. She studied creative writing at Johns Hopkins, then earned her MFA at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop.
After teaching 8th-grade English in New York, she moved to Nantucket in 1993, working odd jobs, including teaching, journalism, and restaurant work, while she got to know the island that would become the backdrop for her novels. She still spends part of the year there and months at a time on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Hilderbrand stays close to her readers, sharing life on the islands on social media. After a breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy in 2014, she spoke openly about her experience and started #MamaStrong, an initiative that sends her novels to cancer centers for every woman who shares her own story.
